USA Rare Earth has secured full control of the Round Top project in southwest Texas through a $73 million all-stock acquisition of Texas Mineral Resources, marking a pivotal step in the U.S. government's strategy to build a resilient domestic rare earth supply chain. The project, claimed to be the largest known U.S. source of heavy rare earth elements, gallium, and beryllium, represents America's most significant effort to break free from China's chokehold on critical mineral processing. Under the company's Accelerated Mining Plan, Round Top is expected to extract nearly 40,000 metric tons per day of rare earth and critical mineral feedstock by 2030, with first production now targeted for late 2028.
This consolidation comes as federal support for domestic rare earth development has reached unprecedented levels. In January, the U.S. government committed $1.6 billion in funding to USA Rare Earth as part of a broader initiative to strengthen critical supply chains. Meanwhile, the Department of Energy has announced an additional $134 million to bolster domestic rare earth element supply chains across multiple projects and initiatives. This reflects a strategic pivot away from the geopolitical vulnerabilities exposed by China's 2025 export controls on rare earth materials, which posed significant risks to U.S. national security and economic resilience.
Parallel efforts across North America demonstrate the urgency of this supply chain transformation. REalloys, a critical player in rare earth metallization, unveiled a breakthrough chemical process that eliminates hydrofluoric acid from rare earth processing-a major environmental and safety advancement. The company is building what it describes as the largest heavy rare earth metallization facility outside China, with operations spanning Saskatchewan and Ohio, designed to produce approximately 30 tonnes of dysprosium and 15 tonnes of terbium metal annually. Beginning January 1, 2027, new U.S. defense procurement rules will prohibit Chinese-origin rare earth materials from entering the supply chain, adding legal pressure to accelerate domestic production.
Meanwhile, international competition for rare earth assets is heating up beyond U.S. borders. Critical Metals approved a $30 million exploration program to accelerate development of its Tanbreez project in Greenland, widely considered one of the world's largest rare earth deposits with exceptionally high grades of dysprosium, terbium, and neodymium. The company has already secured partnerships with Saudi Arabia for rare earth processing and signed a long-term offtake agreement with REalloys for 15 percent of Tanbreez's annual production. In Norway, developers of the Fen Carbonatite Complex announced an 81 percent increase in resource estimates, with total rare earth oxide content surging from 8.8 million tonnes to 15.9 million tonnes, while securing major offtake agreements for thorium production. Africa is also emerging as a crucial player, with Botswana developing significant rare earth deposits alongside copper and silver reserves, while Latin American nations accelerate their entry into rare earth exploration and development.
Yet this global race to diversify rare earth supplies masks deep structural challenges. China currently accounts for approximately 70 percent of global rare earth mining and over 90 percent of refining and magnet production. Global rare earth mine production increased modestly by just 2.6 percent in 2025 to 390 kilotons of rare earth oxide equivalent, indicating that supply expansion is moving slower than geopolitical tensions are intensifying. Building a functional domestic supply chain requires far more than reopening mines-it demands integrated metallization facilities, specialized high-temperature furnaces, and process control systems capable of maintaining stable yields and purity simultaneously. Very few facilities outside China have ever operated at meaningful scale, creating a multiyear race against time as governments worldwide recognize that rare earth availability will determine competitiveness in electric vehicles, renewable energy infrastructure, defense systems, and advanced electronics for the next decade.